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TODAY´S NEWS

Coca-Cola wants more zing in Limca

Coca-Cola India is taking a fresh look at its brand portfolio, especially the cloudy lemon drink, Limca. The exercise has begun with Leo Burnett losing the Limca account to Ogilvy & Mather after being associated with the brand for almost four years.

The brand-review initiative is being spearheaded by Sripad Nadkarni, Coke’s new marketing head. He is understood to be rewriting marketing rules in the company, which had been lying low for sometime. Though Coke is keeping its strategy under wraps, the company plans to work around the `think local, act local’ line.

The idea is to cash in on the stupendous success of Kaun Banega Crorepati, which has pushed up the sales of Limca Book of Records substantially.

Industry experts point out that between 1994-98, after taking over Limca from Ramesh Chauhan, Coke was not too keen on pushing the brand. However, when the ad campaigns first began in 1998, Coke went wrong in correlating the positioning of the brand and its properties.

As part of the new strategy, the company will not burden one agency with too many Coke accounts which more often than not dampen the creative talent. Before the shift happened, Leo Burnett handled three accounts, Coke, Thums Up and Limca. Now it is left with the first two. McCann, however, continues to handle Diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta.